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Ezekiel 39

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1 Du, Menneskesøn, Profeter mod Gog og sig: Så siger den Herre HE EN. Se, Jeg kommer over dig, Gog, Fyrste over osj, Mesjek og Tubal!

2 Jeg vender dig, leder dig og fører dig op fra det yderste Nord og bringer dig til Israels Bjerge.

3 Så slår jeg Buen ud af din venstre Hånd og lader Pilene falde ud af din højre.

4 Israels Bjerge skal du falde, du og alle dine Hobe og Folkeslagene, der følger dig; jeg giver dig til Føde for alle Hånde ovfugle og Markens vilde Dyr.

5 I åben Mark skal du falde, så sandt jeg har talet, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

6 Og jeg sætter IldMagog og på de fjerne Strandes trygge Indbyggere; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

7 Mit hellige Navn kundgør jeg midt i mit Folk Israel, og jeg vil ikke mere vanhellige mit hellige Navn; og Folkene skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, den hellige i Israel.

8 Se, det kommer, det skal ske, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN; det er Dagen, jeg har talet om.

9 Så skal Indbyggerne i Israels Byer gå ud og gøre Ild på og tænde op med ustninger, små og store Skjolde, Buer, Pile, Håndstave og Spyd; og de skal bruge det til at gøre Ild med i syv År.

10 De skal ikke hente Træ i Marken eller hugge Brænde i Skovene, men gøre Ild på med ustningerne. De skal plyndre dem, de plyndredes af, og hærge dem, de hærgedes af, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

11 Og på hin Dag giver jeg Gog et Gravsted i Israel, Vandringsmændenes dal østen for Havet, og den skal spærre Vejen for Vandringsmænd; der skal de jorde Gog og hele hans larmende Hob og kalde Stedet: Gogs larmende Hobs dal.

12 Israels Hus skal have hele syv Måneder til at jorde dem og således rense Landet.

13 Alt folket i Landet skal jorde dem, og det skal tjene til deres os, på den Dag jeg herliggør mig, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

14 Man skal udvælge fast Mandskab til at drage Landet rundt og søge efter dem, der er blevet tilbage ud over Landet, for at rense det; når syv Måneder er gået, skal de skride til at søge;

15 og når de vandrer Landet rundt og en får Øje på Menneskeknogler, skal han sætte et Mærke derved, for at Graverne kan jorde dem i Gogs larmende Hobs Dal;

16 også skal en By have Navnet Hamona". Således skal de rense Landet.

17 Og du, Menneskesøn! Så siger den Herre HE EN: Sig til alle Fugle og alle Markens vilde Dyr: Saml eder og kom hid, kom sammen alle Vegne fra til mit Slagtoffer, som jeg slagter for eder, et vældigt Slagtoffer på Israels Bjerge; I skal æde Kød og drikke Blod!

18 Kød af Helte skal I æde, Blod af Jordens Fyrster skal I drikke, Vædre, Får, Bukke og Tyre, alle fedet i Basan.

19 I skal æde eder mætte i Fedt og drikke eder drukne i Blod af mit Slagtoffer, som jeg slagter for eder.

20 I skal mætte eder ved mit Bord med Køreheste og ytterheste, Helte og alle Hånde Krigsfolk, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

21 Jeg åbenbarer min Herlighed blandt Folkene, og alle Folkene skal skue den Dom, jeg fuldbyrder, og min Hånd, som jeg lægger på dem.

22 Israels Hus skal kende, at jeg, HE EN, er deres Gud fra hin Dag og fremdeles;

23 og Folkene skal kende, at Israels Hus vandrede i Landflygtighed for deres Misgerningers Skyld, fordi de var troløse imod mig, så jeg skjulte mit Åsyn for dem og gav dem i deres Fjenders Hånd, hvorfor de alle faldt for Sværdet.

24 Efter deres Urenhed og deres Overtrædelser handlede jeg med dem og skjulte mit Åsyn for dem.

25 Derfor, så siger den Herre HE EN; Nu vil jeg vende Jakobs Skæbne, forbarme mig over alt Israels Hus og være nidkær for mit hellige Navn;

26 og de skal glemme deres Skændsel og al den Troløshed, de viste mig, når de bor trygt i deres Land, uden at nogen skræmmer,

27 når jeg fører dem tilbage fra Folkeslagene, samler dem fra deres Fjenders Lande og helliger mig på dem for mange Folks Øjne.

28 Og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN deres Gud, når jeg efter at have ført dem i Landflygtighed blandt Folkene samler dem i deres Land uden at lade nogen af dem blive tilbage derude

29 og ikke mere skjuler mit Åsyn for dem, da jeg har udgydt min Ånd over Israels Hus, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

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Arcana Coelestia # 10033

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10033. Since the present chapter deals with the sacrifice and the burnt offering through which Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priestly office a little more will be stated regarding the blood and the fat. All the blood of a sacrifice or of a burnt offering had to be poured out at the altar and all the fat had to be burned on the altar, as the statutes and laws in Leviticus relating to burnt offerings and sacrifices make clear. The reason why this was done to the blood and fat was that the blood meant Divine Truth and the fat Divine Good. The fact that the blood meant Divine Truth is clear from what has been shown regarding 'blood' in 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, and that the fat meant Divine Good is clear from what has been shown in 5943.

[2] That 'blood' means Divine Truth is perfectly clear in Ezekiel,

Gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat till you are glutted, and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse, chariot, the mighty, and every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-22.

Anyone can see that 'blood' is not used to mean blood here, for it states that they were going to drink the blood of the princes of the earth, doing so till they were drunk, and also that they were going to eat fat till they were glutted, and then that they would be glutted with horse and chariot. From these statements it is evident that 'blood' is used to mean something other than blood, 'the princes of the earth' to mean something other than princes of the earth, and also 'fat' as well as 'horse and chariot' something other than fat, or horse and chariot. What is meant however none can know except through the internal sense. This shows that 'blood' means Divine Truth, 'the princes of the earth' the Church's primary or leading truths, 'fat' Divine Good, 'horse' the internal sense of the Word, and 'chariot' actual doctrinal teachings derived from there.

'Blood' means Divine Truth; this is clear from the places referred to above.

'The princes of the earth' means primary truths, 5044.

'The earth' means the Church, 9325.

'Horse' means the internal sense of the Word, 2760-2762.

'Chariot' means doctrinal teachings, 5321, 8215.

[3] From all this it is now evident what the meaning is of the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will have no life in yourselves. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:53-56.

'Flesh' means Divine Good, see 3813, 7850, 9127; and 'the Son of Man' whose flesh they were to eat and blood they were to drink means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, 9807.

[4] But the fact that 'fat' means Divine Good is clear in Isaiah,

Jehovah will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things. Isaiah 25:6.

In the same prophet,

Attend [diligently] to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:2.

And in Jeremiah,

I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:14.

From these quotations it becomes clear why all the fat of a sacrifice was burned on the altar and why all the blood was poured out at the side of it.

[5] Because blood and fat were signs of those Divine Entities the Israelite people were totally forbidden to eat fat or blood, as is clear in Moses,

[This shall be] a perpetual statute throughout your generations: You shall eat no fat and no blood. Leviticus 3:17.

In the same author,

You shall eat no fat, neither of ox, nor sheep, nor she-goat. Everyone who eats fat from a beast, from one that is offered as a fire-offering to Jehovah, that soul eating it will be cut off from his peoples. Leviticus 7:23, 25.

And again in the same author,

Whoever eats any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 17:10-14; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-25.

[6] The reason why eating blood and fat was so strictly forbidden was that eating them represented the profanation of Divine Truth and Divine Good. For the Israelite and Jewish nation was interested in outward forms but not their inner substance, so that in their faith and love there was no Divine Truth nor any Divine Good; and their worship was external devoid of these. This was because they were ruled by self-love and love of the world more than other nations; consequently they were steeped in evils gushing out of those loves, these evils being contempt for others, enmity, hatred, vengeance, brutality, and cruelty. This also was the reason why internal truths were not revealed to them, for if these had been revealed that nation would have inevitably profaned them. Such was the character of that nation, as may be seen in the places referred to in 9320(end), 9380. Therefore they would have represented profanation if they had eaten blood and fat; for whatever was established among them was representative of the interior things of the Church and heaven.

[7] From these considerations it is even more evident what the meaning is of the words in Ezekiel 39:17-22, dealt with above, stating that they would eat fat till they were glutted and drink blood, the blood of the princes of the earth, till they were drunk. That is to say, the meaning is that when inner virtues were opened up, those with whom these virtues existed, that is, faith in and love to the Lord, would have Divine Truth and Divine Good imparted to them as their own, as happened among gentile nations when the Lord came into the world. Therefore also those words go on to say, Thus will I set My glory among the nations, 'glory' meaning Divine Truth emanating from the Lord as it exists in heaven, 9429, and 'the nations' meaning all who are governed by good, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, 8771, 9256.

[8] This the Lord Himself corroborates, in His declaration that His flesh was truly food and His blood was truly drink, and whoever ate His flesh and drank His blood would abide in Him, and He in that person, John 6:55-56, and also in His institution of the Holy Supper, in which they were to eat His flesh and to drink His blood, Matthew 26:26-29, by which receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from Him and making them their own was meant. Receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from the Lord and making them their own is possible only with those who acknowledge the Lord's Divinity, for this is the first and most essential of all matters of belief within the Church. To no others can the way to heaven be opened, because the whole of heaven assents to that belief, and therefore Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, meant here by 'blood', cannot be imparted to them. Therefore let anyone who is within the Church beware of refusing to believe in the Lord and also His Divinity; for heaven is closed and hell opened to that refusal. For those people are separated from the Lord, and so are separated from heaven, where the Lord's Divinity is the All in all since it composes heaven. And when heaven has been closed, knowledge of the truths of faith derived from the Word and from the teachings of the Church indeed exists, but not a particle of faith that is real faith because real faith comes from above, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven.

[9] The Lord spoke in this manner, that is to say, He called the Divine Good emanating from Himself His flesh, and the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good His blood, because the Word, which sprang from Him, was His Divinity filling the whole of heaven. Such a Word must manifest itself through the use of correspondences, as a result of which it is representative and carries a spiritual meaning in every single part; for in this and no other way could it link members of the Church to angels in heaven. For when people in the world understand the Word according to its literal meaning angels understand it according to its inner meaning. Thus instead of the Lord's flesh they understand Divine Good, and instead of His blood they understand Divine Truth, both emanating from the Lord. As a consequence that which is holy flows in by way of the Word.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.